Mississippi: Living Down The Past

Living Down The Past

Though eight members of the Ku Klux Klan served prison sentences on federal charges of conspiring to deny the civil rights of Andrew Goodman, James Chaney and Michael Schwerner, no state charges were ever filed against the killers of the three civil rights workers, who were slain near Philadelphia, Miss., during the Freedom Summer of 1964. That may now change. Two weeks ago, Mississippi Attorney General Mike Moore announced that he is considering reopening the case.

Philadelphia has been trying to live down its reputation for racial violence, which was revived by the movie Mississippi Burning, loosely based on the case....